The Star Wars Connection
Christopher Paolini has said before that Inheritance Cycle closely parallels the Star Wars trilogy, and this is an easy connection to make for most Star Wars fans. Just the face that we're dealing with "The Empire" brings Star Wars into mind. There are some striking similarities, but also puzzling divergences, which make it tempting to speculate about the next two books by drawing from Star Wars. Characters *Eragon/Luke Skywalker - the simple farmboy ripped from all he knows and thrown into an epic adventure - this is an accurate description of our main characters. Like Luke, Eragon lives a simple, happy life and is unaware of the outside world with the exception of some scraps of information and gossip that he gets from travelling merchants. While at first it seems entirely random for our main character to wind up with this new power or ability - being a dragon rider or a jedi, we eventually find out that it was in his blood to take up this heroic path. **Injuries - Eragon's back is sliced open at the end of his battle with Durza, leaving him to have spasms of incredible pain. Luke lost his hand in his first major battle, with Darth Vader, but his injury did not trouble him physically after his hand was replaced with a cybernetic replica. It did bother Luke that part of him was mechanical as he was concerned with ending up being more machine than man, like his father. *Brom/Obi Wan Kenobi - The old, wise, misunderstood teacher. Both Brom and Obi Wan are considered eccentric, out-there, and maybe a little off their rockers by their neighbors. Each one has been exhiled because their enemies have gained power and it has become necessary for them to go into hiding. Obi Wan takes up residence on Tattoine, where Luke's aunt and uncle speak of him as a crazy old fool. Brom gets more respect in Carvahall, but that may be because he is in closer contact to the villagers while Obi Wan was off in a cave working on communicating with his old mentor. Each one failed at important tasks to some extent. While we don't really know what Brom's failures were in detail, we do know that Obi Wan failed to teach Anakin and prevent his fall to the dark side. Had Paolini switched Morzan and Brom's roles prior to fall of the Riders, Morzan could easily be Anakin, having fallen to the dark side and fathered children who later redeemed him. There is no hint that Morzan's memory can be redeemed as he is simply portrayed as the consumate villain, overshadowed only by Galbatorix himself. Both Brom and Obi Wan were killed before their charge's training was complete. *Oromis/Yoda - The wise old sage who teaches the hero the skills he needs to defeat the Empire. Luke had to go off to Dagobah to finish the training that Obi Wan could not complete. Eragon must go to the evles to learn from Oromis and complete the training that Brom started. Both of the old mentors are unable to fight the Empire themselves, their time has past and they know it. The training styles are much the same as well, focusing on reflective techniques and tempering the impatience of youth that both Luke and Eragon suffer from at first. Oromis is more capable than he seems, yet as time goes on and the training progresses, his weakness does become apparent. '*Galbatorix/Emperor Palpatine -' The evil villain who is behind the scenes pulling all of the strings. The Emperor is content to let Vader and his other minions do his dirty work. Galbatorix is equally content to let Murtagh, Durza, and the Ra'zac do his dirty work. While it is known that they have powers from the Force and from being a Rider, it is a mystery how they use their powers for some of the things that they do. Galbatorix has discovered a way to make himself stronger as he ages. While Oromis seems to know how this is possible, it remains a mystery to Eragon and is unnatural in general. The Emperor uses the dark side to carry out his will and subsequent horrors. Galbatorix draws on secret and forbidden uses of magic to control minds, forge a relationship with a stolen dragon, and commit other horrors. The prime motivation behind this character is power, and they can never have enough. '*Arya/Leia -' this connection is not very strong at all, but there are a few similarities to be pointed out. The main one is that the first time we meet this character is when she is imprisoned by the Empire and the hero is rescuing her.